Vanillaware has long been praised for its lavish, ornate games and the aesthetic value of its creations rather than their practicality or realism. In an age where dismal sci-fi landscapes and unimaginative dirt-encrusted visions of war prevail, an injection of fantasy (with an extensive color palette) is a sight for sore eyes. Indeed, upon firing up the developer's latest opus, Dragon's Crown, one wonders how the only takeaway from this gorgeous product could possibly be the size of a particular character's breasts or derriere.

The biggest Splinter Cell to date is also, unfortunately, the messiest.

Let's just get this out of the way: Sam Fisher is no longer being voiced by Michael Ironside, and that sucks. I'm comfortable calling Ironside's work one of the most iconic performances in the gaming industry (yes, more so than David Hayter as Solid Snake), and the actor's absence leaves a gaping hole in the series that, unfortunately, his replacement can't fill. Eric Johnson mutters, mumbles and murmurs his way through the entire script, reducing one of the most memorable protagonists of the last two generations to a guy who sounds like he needs his coffee. And let's face it – Splinter Cell has always been a bland mix of indecipherable government lingo and eye-rolling spy movies clichés. It was Fisher's gravelly menace and dark sense of humor that kept us engaged in what was going on, and

Your chance to enjoy a classic Disney outing with a fresh coat of paint arrives in just over a week.

If you have $14.99 that has been burning a hole in your pocket, now might be a good time to make plans for it. SEGA and Disney jointly announced today (edit: make that ten days ago) that Castle of Illusion Starring Mickey Mouse will officially be available for PlayStation Network, Xbox Live, and PC, starting September 3rd and 4th (depending on the platform).

Castle of Illusion is one of the other beloved Disney titles, one of the few from any era that wasn't developed by Capcom. It finds Mickey Mouse working through a magical castle and surrounding environs, all in his quest to rescue Minnie.

There are a lot of exciting games coming to stores soon, so you might want to start work on your own shopping list...

Every year around this time, I find it helpful to make a calendar for myself, outlining which games are arriving next and for which platform. The timing is right, because a lot of the holiday season's big games have at this point been announced and release dates are near final. There's also less in the way of distraction, because the big marketing blitz won't begin for probably another few weeks and that makes it easier for me to take note of titles that otherwise I might allow to become lost in the shuffle.

Gamers who are looking forward to The Guided Fate Paradox got another glimpse at the localized version of the SRPG.

Yesterday, NIS America sent out an email to share some images with members of the press. Those images included a proper look at the title's cover art, along with screenshots of the localized version of the game.

I always get a little bit excited when I find out that NIS America is about to release another title developed by the Nippon Ichi Software team in Japan. That group of talented developers was responsible for one of my favorite SRPGs of all time, Disgaea: Hour of Darkness, as well as plenty of other great titles within that general world.

The development team behind Endless Space is trying its luck with swords and sorcery.

Amplitude Studios, the team behind the PC/Mac indie success known as Endless Legend, is developing a new strategy game called Endless Legend. According to a press release issued earlier today by publisher Iceberg Interactive, the new title is another 4X strategy project.

It seems like no matter how many times I hear the term "4x strategy game," I have to head over to Google and look it up before I remember that "4x" stands for "explore, expand, exploit, and exterminate." In other words, it stands for "exactly the sort of strategy game that you like to play, you forgetful bum." I'm kind of glad that hasn't become the official definition, because then I'd just feel insulted every time I space out like that.

After you finish Gone Home, the first thing you'll want to do is read what others had to say about it. You may try to do that before you play Gone Home, at which point you'll be urged to stop reading, avoid hearing anything about the game and buy it immediately. Now that I find myself in the same position of having to sell the game without spoiling it, I'm tempted to echo that. Between Brothers and now this, what's going on here? Is this some international competition to develop the world's most critic-proof game?